Lessons in the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther For the Senior Department of Lutheran Sunday-Schools and for General Use · George Mezger
LESSON 10.
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments. Which is the Ninth Commandment? _Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house._ What does this mean? _We should fear and love God that we may not craftily seek to get our neighbor's inheritance and house, nor obtain it by a show of right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it._ Which is the Tenth Commandment? _Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbors._ What does this mean? _We should fear and love God that we may not estrange, force, or entice away from our neighbor his wife, servants, or cattle, but urge them to stay and do their duty._ 1. In the Ninth and the Tenth Commandment God forbids the same. Both commandments begin with the words: _"Thou shalt not covet."_ To covet means eagerly and sinfully to desire and want what does not belong to us, but to some one else, to our neighbor. We are covetous when we envy our neighbor because of what he has, and want it for ourselves, and will not be satisfied until we have obtained it for ourselves. Remember the story of _King Ahab and Naboth._ Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, had a strong desire for a certain vineyard which was the property of Naboth. He offered to buy the vineyard, but Naboth did not want to sell it because he had inherited it from his fathers. Ahab kept on longing for the property of his neighbor and was not satisfied until Naboth was stoned to death, and he was able to take possession of the vineyard. 1 Kings 21,1-16. Here we learn what it is to covet our neighbor's property.
2. We are all, by nature, covetous. We all envy our neighbor and desire to obtain what belongs to him. God forbids such evil desires. Already in the Seventh Commandment we learned that our neighbor's property ought to be sacred to us because God Himself gave it to him. God does not want us even to covet it, to _desire_ to obtain it against the will of our neighbor. We should, therefore, not _craftily,_ with cunning and fraud, _seek to get our neighbor's inheritance,_ what he inherited from his parents, or his _house,_ nor try _to obtain it by a show of right,_ in such a way that it appears right before men while it is wrong in the sight of God. We should not _force or entice away our neighbor's wife, or servants, or cattle, or whatever belongs to him._ 3. The property of our neighbor should be sacred to us. Because we love him for God's sake, we should _help him and be of service to him in keeping his property._ We should urge our _neighbor's wife or servants to remain with him and do their duty towards him_ whenever we see that they are seeking to leave him. God, our heavenly Father, tells us in His Word: _"By love serve one another."_ Gal. 5,13. And furthermore He says: _"Look not every man on his own things, but ever man also on the things of others."_ Phil. 2,4.
4. God forbids us to covet our neighbor's property, all that belongs to him. _Covetousness is a sin of the heart._ God teaches us a very important lesson in these last two commandments. He teaches us that not only our evil deeds nor only our evil words are sins against the holy God, _but also our evil thoughts._ In the sight of God every desire for anything that He has forbidden in His Word is evil, is a sin, even if this sinful thought does not break out in evil words or deeds. Every lust in itself is truly a sin which God has threatened to punish. _"Thou shalt not covet,"_ is His demand. Every sinful thought, every impure desire in our heart, proves that we do not fear and love our heavenly Father as we should, that we have broken not only these two commandments, but the first also, yea, all the commandments of our Lord. 5. God demands that our hearts be holy. There should be no evil lust, no desire for any sin in our hearts, _but only a holy desire to serve our God and Father. "Ye shall be holy [without any sin], for I, the Lord, your God, am holy."_ Lev. 19,2. Our hearts should be so filled with fear and love of God and all that is good in His eyes that no evil thought, no sinful lust, can find room in them. _"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."_ Matt. 5,48.
6. These last two commandments, even as the First Commandment, especially teach us that we have not kept the commandments of our Lord, and _that we cannot keep them perfectly._ Our hearts are full of lust against the demands of God, full of evil thoughts. Our lust so often entices and tempts us to sin by word and deed. We must confess that _we all are sinners in the sight of God._ And "the wages of sin is death." We are poor and lost sinners. Therefore _we daily pray for God's forgiveness,_ we beg our heavenly Father to be gracious unto us for Christ's sake, who has fulfilled the commandments of God in our stead and borne our sins. _1. "Thou shalt not covet," is God's command. If you covet what belongs to your neighbor, you sin against God. Every desire in your heart to do what the Lord has forbidden is a sin in the sight of God._ _2. God wants our hearts to be without sin, perfect and holy, as He Himself is holy._ _3. My heart is sinful. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."_ Ps. 51,10. _By love serve one another._ Gal. 5,13. _Ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord, your God, am holy._ Lev. 19,2. _Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect._ Matt. 5,48.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.